We pointed out earlier today that 160 unsigned unrestricted free agents did not receive June 1 tenders from their prior teams, which means that those teams won’t have exclusive dibs on them from July 22 through Week 10, if they don’t sign elsewhere before then.
As a league source has explained it to PFT, there’s another impact of the complete and total freedom these players have secured. They now won’t count toward the formula for determining compensatory draft picks in 2014.
This means that, if/when these players sign elsewhere, the lost player won’t help his former team’s haul of compensatory picks — and it likewise won’t impact the formula of the team that signs him.
Case in point: former Jaguars linebacker Daryl Smith. With the Ravens signing Smith after June 1 absent a pre-June 1 tender offer from the Jags, the Jaguars won’t get credit for the lost free agent, and the Ravens won’t have Smith counterbalance the departure of guys like linebacker Paul Kruger, linebacker Dannell Ellerbe, and cornerback Cary Williams.
It’s amazing that the Ravens knew to wait until after June 1 to sign Smith. Given that they’re, you know, dumb.